The survey results showed that network automation is becoming more common, with the median response being that 40% of networks are automated. However, automation efforts are still primarily "homebrew" solutions using open-source software like Python and Ansible, rather than commercial products. While most organizations automate tasks like device deployment and service provisioning, over half still have no dedicated automation staff. And 73% of respondents were uncertain about their own automation skills, suggesting a need for more training and experience with automation techniques. The survey aims to be repeated in 2024 to further track trends in network automation adoption and capabilities.

1. 2023
State of Network Automation
Survey Results
Chris Grundemann // chris@fullctl.com
NANOG 88
13 June 2023
Seattle, USA

2. Who’s This Grundemann Guy?
Co-Founder & CSO at FullCtl
Co-Founder of IX-Denver, Director at OIX
Interconnection and Automation for about 20 years
Past Lightning Talks:
● Will I be replaced by a script?
● The API is the new CLI?
● WTF is SDN?
Man of many hats…

3. Network Automation is HOT

4. With Good Reason
Networks are getting larger and more complex

5. But Where Are We Really?

6. We Launched a Survey at N87 to Find Out!

7. The Results Are In

8. First: Who answered the survey?
● 78 Responses Total
● 20 Countries Represented
● 14 Different Types of Organizations
● 9 Distinct Job Roles/Functions
● Wide Range of Network Scale

9. Who answered the survey (Country)?

10. Who answered the survey (Country)?
Algeria - 1
Australia - 1
Canada - 10
Denmark - 1
France - 3
Germany - 1
India - 1
Philippines - 1
Singapore - 1
Spain - 1
Sweden - 1
Tanzania - 1
United Kingdom - 1
United States - 45
Indonesia - 1
Ireland - 1
Italy - 1
Netherlands - 4
Nigeria - 1
Norway - 1

11. Who answered the survey (Org)?

12. Who answered the survey (Org)?
Internet Service Provider (ISP) - 23
Enterprise IT Network - 13
Public Cloud Operator (IaaS) - 9
Network Service Provider (NSP) - 8
Public Sector - 7
Software as a Service Provider (SaaS) - 7
Managed Service Provider (MSP) - 5
Other - 6

13. Who answered the survey (Role)?

14. Who answered the survey (Role)?
Network Architect or Designer - 21
Network Engineer or Operator - 19
Network Team Manager or Director - 16
Network Automation Engineer or Developer - 11
Executive Leadership - 7
Other - 4

15. Who answered the survey (Scale)?

16. Number of IX:
Min: 0
Max: 60
Mean: 8.7
Median: 4
Number of Routers:
Min: 2
Max: 30,000
Mean: 1,918
Median: 93
Who answered the survey (Scale)?

17. Alright Already
What Did They Say?

18. How Automated Are We?
0%
-
Nothing is
automated,
everything
is always
done
manually.
100%
-
Everything is
automated,
nothing is
ever done
manually.

19. So, How Automated Are We?
0% - 20% = 24
30 - 40% = 17
50 - 60% = 20
70 - 80% = 17
90 - 100% = 0
50% and Below: 50
50% and Above: 37
Mean: 42.43%
Median: 40%

20. What is Being Automated?

21. What is Being
Automated?
Device Deployment: 26+32=58
Service Provisioning: 31+25=56
Firmware Upgrades: 22+28=50
Other Non-Provisioning: 22+24=46
Capacity Planning: 26+15=41
Troubleshooting: 11+28=39
eBGP & Interconnection: 22+13=35
VNF Deployment: 17+8=25
Traffic Engineering: 8+16=24
Network Design: 2+10=12

22. How Is It Being Automated?

23. “Homebrew” - 69 (89%)
OSS w/out support - 61 (78%)
Commercial app - 24 (31%)
OSS with paid support - 13 (17%)
How Is It Being Automated?

24. Python - 73 (of 76)
Shell (bash) - 25
Pearl - 24
Golang - 13
PHP - 12
Ansible - 7
Expect - 4
Ruby - 3
C - 3
TCL - 2
awk
Erlang
excel
Fish
grep
Jinja2
How Is It Being Automated (Languages)?
JSON
powershell
Puppet
Rust
salt
Also:

25. Ansible - 36 (of 60)
NetBox - 12
Nautobot - 5
Nornir - 5
NAPALM - 5
Salt(stack) - 4
Git - 3
Peering Manager - 3
Rancid - 3
Elastiflow - 2
IXP Manager - 2
Netmiko - 2
Puppet - 2
Rundeck - 2
Terraform - 2
Workflow Orchestrator - 2
Zabbix - 2
*Python libraries (~4)
How Is It Being Automated (OSS)?

26. 28 Total Responses:
Cisco NSO - 7 (10 Cisco total)
Ansible (Tower) - 4
Kentik - 3
Nokia NSP - 2 (4 Nokia total)
Arista CloudVision - 2
19 Other Tools Mentioned Once
How Is It Being Automated ($W)?

27. Paths to More Automation

28. Spending Comparison

29. Interconnection Fees
< $10,000 Monthly: 13%
$10k-$100k Monthly: 36%
> $100,000 Monthly: 21%
Don’t Know / Opt Out: 31%
Automation Tooling
< $1,000 Monthly: 55%
> $1,000 Monthly: 13%
Don’t Know / Opt Out: 32%
Spending Comparison

30. Staffing Comparison

31. Interconnection Staff
Zero: 49%
One: 12%
Two: 13%
3 to 5: 13%
> 5: 14%
Automation Staff
Zero: 55%
One: 13%
Two: 12%
3 to 5: 12%
> 5: 9%
Staffing Comparison

32. Not Everyone Agrees On Automation

33. What Should
be Automated?
Service Provisioning: 59%
Device Deployment: 58%
Firmware Upgrades: 56%
Troubleshooting: 55%
Capacity Planning: 53%
eBGP & Interconnection: 42%
Traffic Engineering: 39%
Other Non-Provisioning: 36%
VNF Deployment: 30%
Network Design: 18%

34. What Should
be Automated?
Service Provisioning: 59%
Device Deployment: 58%
Firmware Upgrades: 56%
Troubleshooting: 55%
Capacity Planning: 53%
eBGP & Interconnection: 42%
Traffic Engineering: 39%
Other Non-Provisioning: 36%
VNF Deployment: 30%
Network Design: 18%
?
?

35. Automation Skills Gap?

36. Automation Skills Gap?

37. Automation Skills Gap?

38. Expert? Yes Maybe No
Networking 65% 21% 14%
Interconnection 58% 19% 23%
Automation 27% 33% 40%
Automation Skills Gap?

39. Expert? Yes Maybe No
Networking 65% 21% 14%
Interconnection 58% 19% 23%
Automation 27% 33% 40%
73% Uncertain of
Automation Skills
Automation Skills Gap?

40. Whaaaaaaaaaat??? [summary]
78 Diverse Responses
40% of Network Automated (Median)
90% “Homebrewing” && 80% Using OSS (<31% $W)
94% Using Python && At Least 46% using Ansible
55% of Orgs have No Dedicated Automation Staff
73% of Respondents Uncertain of Automation Skills

41. Next: 2024 Survey!
● How can we improve the survey?
● What questions would you like to see asked?
● How can we increase participation?
Hit Me:
chris@fullctl.com

42. Improvements…
● Higher Ed (org type)
● Security (role type)
● Backups && Firewall Rules (what’s automated)
● Google Form? (account required)